Raising A Question of the Privileges of the House
Floor Speech
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Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I want to start by clarifying something that was said on the Record. The sponsor of the resolution is stating that Chuy Garcia has won his primaries with 100 percent of the vote. All you have to do is go to the board of elections or BallotReady and recognize that in 2024, in his last election, his opponent got 30 percent of the vote. I want to make sure that facts matter here, and when there is misinformation, I wanted to clarify that.
Let me go ahead and say at a moment when so many Members of Congress have conceded their power to Donald Trump, voting rights are on the line, super-PACs continue to buy congressional seats, and the representation of Black and Brown working families is threatened, this resolution is nothing more than a cheap political stunt pulled from the playbook of some of my Republican colleagues.
Do you want proof? Some of the ones that have been suppressing the most votes have been clapping every time she speaks. It is a do-nothing resolution that targets a leader who has been holding the line in defense of democracy, someone who is not beholden to super-PACs, like foreign lobbies or Big Oil, like the American Petroleum Institute. He is someone who has voted against bills like the SAVE Act, which endangers the voting rights of women in our country. He is someone who voted against the Laken Riley Act, which allows the persecution and racial profiling of Latinos by ICE agents. He is someone who voted against the recent Republican continuing resolution, which did not protect affordable healthcare and provided a slush fund for Senators investigated for their role in the insurrection.
Chuy Garcia has stood his ground for working families and our democracy in moments when others have not, including the sponsor of this resolution of disapproval, who has opened the doors to authoritarianism by the way she votes.
You don't have to agree with how the events of his decision to step down unfolded to recognize that this resolution is misguided and disingenuous.
Disapproving of his actions while you allow big money in politics, outside spending in elections, and rampant corruption to go unchallenged or uninterrupted is the height of hypocrisy.
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Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, while we need to hold each other to high standards--we do--we also need to reform a system that too often makes it nearly impossible to ensure working people like Chuy Garcia, like me, and so many others here, are well represented in the face of moneyed interests set on their destruction.
I invite you today to vote ``no'' on this performative, bad- intentioned resolution, and join me in getting dark money out of politics, protecting and expanding voting rights in America, and fighting for authentic representation of all our communities. Vote ``no.''
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